Friday, September 30, 2011

Dan McLaughlin: Broadcaster's Fate Sealed After 2nd DWI Arrest

Comparing his 2010 mugshot (left) to Sunday's photo, it seems that even an allegedly pickled McLaughlin understands the gravity of the matter.

Mark my words. Dan McLaughlin's career is finito in St. Louis. That's a shame. He was a decent broadcaster, but that's just the way it is. He will not survive his latest PR blunder, and he has no one to blame but himself.

On Sunday night, the 37-year-old McLaughlin was arrested for driving under the influence after he crashed his car into a street sign in Chesterfield. It's the second time in a little over a year that the Cardinals' play-by-play announcer on Fox Sports Midwest has been charged with a DWI.

Last November, McLaughlin pleaded guilty to a driving under the influence after police pulled him over in August 2010 for driving erratically down Highway 40 in Chesterfield. He was allowed to keep his driver's license and was placed on two years' probation. That didn't turn out too well.

Sunday's accident occurred around 10:13 p.m. Police say McLaughlin crashed his vehicle into a sign at Baxter and Isle View Drive and then left the scene. He was released on a $750 bond.

Fox Sports Midwest has already suspended McLaughlin in light of his most recent arrest, though the season on FSM ended Wednesday. The network doesn't broadcast postseason play. Frankly, I don't see how FSM could possibly bring him back for next year -- not when the Cardinals supposedly have a zero-tolerance stand on drunk driving following Tony La Russa's drunken catnap behind the wheel, Josh Hancock's death, David Freese's DUI and Scott Spiezio's alcohol-fueled meltdown. The Cardinals, btw, have last say on who broadcasts the games.

Already this year McLaughlin saw his broadcasting time diminish significantly with the addition of former Cardinals pitcher Rick Horton in the FSM booth. In an interview about that just last week, McLaughlin -- a St. Louis native -- called his position with Fox Sports a "dream job."

"I'm very happy just to have the job, it's more than I ever
thought I'd have in my life," he said.